Friday Foto Friends

Good Morning Friday Foto Friends!

I hope you have been having a good week thus far...and now we are heading into a lovely weekend!

Believe it or not, we are experiencing some lovely fall-like weather even here in Florida!  Our current temperature at 6:49 a.m. is 64 degrees! The high is expected to be 84, and it looks like a perfect sunny early fall day for us!  I would love to spend the day outdoors, but we shall see what develops!

The Sand Hill Crane family came calling again the other evening. They seemed to be enjoying the late afternoon sunshine along the shores of Still Waters Pond, searching for grubs and whatever it is they love so much...

I am always amazed at how big these birds really are!  I told my hubby I could almost get on his back and ride, but I'd have to figure out how to lasso him first. That might be quite a wild ride!

I don't know if this is mother and child, or father and mother, or  father and child...but these two seem to stick together while the third member of the family is over on the other side of the yard pecking away at bird seed in the ground under the bird feeder...

These two are slowly working their way over to meet him, and if you look closely in the window of the birdhouse below, you will notice our resident lizard quietly watching the parade go by:

I don't think he wants them to know he is there, because it probably wouldn't be beneath a Sand Hill Crane to make a nosey lizard his dinner!

Hey! Which way did he go?

This is how lovely the pond looked in the glowing rays of the late afternoon sunshine:

Ah! The family has finally been reunited below...

I was trying to get a picture of the one bird scratching at his underbelly, and this young upstart decided to photo bomb the picture! Must be the youngster, don't you think?

After that they sauntered away out of sight. I did hear them making their usual loud raucous noises from somewhere on the other side of the house as they wandered around the rest of the neighborhood. I hope you enjoyed watching them as much as I did.

We did have a couple of really rainy days earlier this week...one afternoon I sat on the back porch and listened to the rain on the tin roof...and watched our lizard friend enjoying the rain as well.

It was quite a gully washer! I did make a video of the sounds and shared it on Facebook.You can listen to it HERE if you want.  (but you may have to have a Facebook account to access it.)

In my meanderings around our yard this past week I discovered this interesting cocoon on the Rose of Sharon bush in the Memorial Garden:

It's quite large, and I had no idea what it was, but I looked it up on Google, and it might be a Cecropia Moth.  Not sure yet. I am keeping an eye on it to see if I can see it emerge. Here is a video about these huge, beautiful moths. I hope it is one, and I really hope I get to see it!

"Complete Metamorphosis: A Cecropia Moth Life Cycle"

If you read my Tuesday 4 Post earlier this week HERE, you already know the story about the rose that blooms in the Secret Memorial Garden for special occasions...and that I picked this rose the other day and brought it inside to enjoy all week long for my special "heaven-sent birthday gift" from my son Matthew.  I thought perhaps you'd like to see how it looks now:

This was yesterday,

And this is today.  It's been blooming for 4 days now, and tomorrow is my actual birthday! It looks like it will still be beautiful for my special day! Oh, and it still smells just as sweet as it did on the first day!  Thank you for the many kind comments of understanding and agreement that indeed, God does love to bless us with special little gifts that seem to be "heaven-sent", just to let us know we are loved and we haven't been forgotten, even by those dear ones who have gone on before us.  

Yes, tomorrow is my actual birthday, but we will be celebrating with friends and family on Sunday afternoon after church at our local "Hog Wild Country Cafe'" restaurant. It is a fun place to go and we were able to reserve tables for a large group.  It will be fun to see loved ones all together again. It's been a long time. We will also celebrate our son's 50th birthday with the extended family since we weren't able to on  his birthday, as well as celebrate several others in the family who have had birthdays in the past few weeks. It should be a loud, happy and blessed celebration! I believe in celebrating life while we are alive to do so!  Life is just too short to ignore these special occasions.

So my dear friends, I hope that you have a blessed and wonderful weekend! Get outside and don't forget to smell the roses!

Here's some good "food for thought" from the little "Choose Grace" devotional book that was actually a gift to "Lily Grace", but I like it too!

Let us "overflow with love" for others each day!

Amen!

On another more somber note, please remember our dear blogging friend Mildred, from her blog Laurel Wood.  She has been battling cancer and has now been placed in hospice care at her home.  I know she would appreciate your prayers for her and her husband John and their loved ones. Thank you dear friends.